Grant and Contract Awards

Scroll down to read, or use these links to jump directly to a section/principal investigator (PI):

 

NEW & TRANSFER AWARDS

(New grants, funding transferred from a PI’s previous institution, and NIH competitive renewal funding)

Chris Blodgett (PI) – WSU Extension, Child and Family Research Unit
Primary Health
“Grant Pass School District CLEAR”
This award funds the implementation of Collaborative Learning for Educational Achievement and Resilience (CLEAR) trauma-informed school response model in the Grants Pass School District in southwestern Oregon. Developed by the WSU Child and Family Research Unit (CAFRU), CLEAR is a whole-school change model that helps educators and other school professionals recognize, understand, and deal with the effects of children’s exposure to harmful experiences, such as abuse, neglect, homelessness, and domestic violence. Implementation of CLEAR will be done through on-site monthly consultation and professional development trainings provided by CAFRU staff.

Chris Blodgett (PI) – WSU Extension, Child and Family Research Unit
Washington State Office of Financial Management
“No School Alone 2017”
This contract provides funding for the WSU Child and Family Research Unit (CAFRU) to update findings from a report prepared in 2015 for the Washington State Office of Financial Management in response to a legislative request from the Washington State Legislature. The report looks at community and school characteristics that predict academic success and youth well-being. Findings will be updated based on publicly available aggregated school demographic and academic progress data (such as standardized test scores, attendance, and dropout and on-time graduation rates). Community characteristics will be drawn from multiple public data sources associated with the school building or school district geographic service area.

Mike Gibson (PI); Jean-Baptiste Roullet; Sterling McPherson; Jonathan Wisor – College of Pharmacy; Elson S Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health; National Eye Institute
“Rapalog Therapy in Heritable and Vigabatrin-Induced GABA Metabolic Disorders”
This four-year project follows up on earlier studies conducted by the principal investigator that identify a relationship between increased GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid—the primary central inhibitory neurotransmitter) and abnormal mTOR signaling. The mTOR protein is key for controlling autophagy, a normal physiological process that deals with destruction of cells in the body. As part of this work, it was found that rapalogs—a class of anticancer drugs that inhibit mTOR—could be used to override the negative effects associated with increases in GABA. The discovery could have implications for patients who have heritable disorders of the GABA metabolism—such as GABA-transaminase (GABA-T) or succinic semialdehyde dehydrogenase deficiency (SSADHD)—or elevated levels of GABA resulting from the use of the antiepileptic drug Vigabatrin, which inhibits the breakdown of GABA. This study will test, in a mouse model, the hypothesis that autophagic pathways involving GABA and mTOR can be mitigated with rapalog medications.

Zachary Hamilton (PI) – College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Criminal Justice and Criminology
Spokane County
“Developing Probation and Jail Risk Assessment Tools”
This contract provides funding for WSU to conduct research and support data collection for the creation of a customized, validated probation risk assessment tool, as well as a jail risk assessment tool for defendants booked into Spokane County jail.  The tools will be based on a similar risk assessment tool developed by the principal investigator for the Washington State Department of Corrections, but will be normed and validated on Spokane County’s localized population.

Paul Hardy (PI); Mary Paine – College of Pharmacy
American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education
“AFPE – Gateway to Research Scholarships”
This award funds a Gateway to Research Scholarship for PharmD student Paul Hardy to participate in a research project led by Associate Professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences Mary Paine. Under Paine’s mentorship, Hardy will conduct research to study the interaction between green tea and the drug Raloxifene, which is used to treat osteoporosis and certain forms of breast cancer. Specifically, he will look at the intestinal metabolism of an enzyme known as UGT1A. UGT1A is one of a family of enzymes that detoxify compounds by binding them to glucuronic acid, which allows the body to excrete them through urine or feces. Oral absorption rates of Raloxifene are low, which is attributed to extensive glucuronidation by UGT1As in the intestinal system. This study will assess whether green tea inhibits this process, which would lead to higher absorption of raloxifene and an increased risk of adverse side effects, such as hot flashes, pulmonary embolism, and stroke.

Jim Mohr (PI) – Office of Student Affairs
US Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education
“Washington State University Spokane Stevens County Upward Bound (WSUSSCUB)”
This is a new, five-year grant to fund the existing WSU Upward Bound program at three small high schools in Stevens County, Washington. Upward Bound is designed to generate the skills and motivation necessary for success in education beyond high school among young people from low-income families and families in which neither parent has acquired a bachelor’s degree. It provides program participants with fundamental support in their preparation for college entrance. This Upward Bound project is led out of WSU Spokane, with staff located at a project office in Stevens County.

Jim Mohr (PI) – Office of Student Affairs
Interfaith Youth Core
“Engaging Across Faith in a Healthcare Setting”
This grant provides funding for a conference for students and educators that will explore issues of faith and how they impact health decisions. The conference will be hosted at WSU Health Sciences Spokane in February 2018 and is being organized by a consortium of universities that also includes Eastern Washington University, the Community Colleges of Spokane, Gonzaga University, and Whitworth University.

Lonnie Nelson (PI); Dedra Buchwald – College of Nursing/Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
National Institutes of Health; National Institute of General Medical Sciences
“The First Annual Summit on Urban Native Elder Health and Health Care”
This award funds the first conference in a proposed annual conference series on health and health care for American Indian and Alaska Native elders living in urban areas. The goal of the series is to stimulate research that will address the current gap in knowledge on Native elders living in urban areas and inform the allocation of health care resources for programs responsive to the needs of urban Native elders. Most research on Native health has been conducted in rural and reservation communities, even though 71 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives live in urban areas. Native populations are at elevated risk of obesity, smoking, substance abuse, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, traumatic injury, and other health issues. The gap in knowledge about urban Native populations is particularly concerning in the case of Native elders (those 65 and older), whose risk profiles and health care needs are likely to differ substantially from their rural counterparts. The two-day conference will be held in Seattle in July 2017.

Janet Purath (PI); Joann Dotson; Tamara Odom-Maryon; Linda Ward; Janet Katz; Sandy Carrollo; Dawn Depriest – College of Nursing
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Division of Nursing and Public Health
“Washington State University – Advanced Nursing practice for rural underserved in Eastern Washington (WSU-ANEW)”
This is a new award for a project aimed at building expanded capacity for training family nurse practitioners to serve in rural and underserved areas in Eastern Washington. It funds the creation of a formal partnership with the Community Health Association of Spokane that includes a joint appointment of a Nurse Practitioner Faculty in Residence, who will help enhance evidence-based care for underserved patients in Washington and improve the College of Nursing faculty’s approach to clinical instruction. The project will also implement a preceptor education program that will train preceptors as program partners to enhance clinical and didactic nursing education; provide traineeships for 15 to 30 family nurse practitioner students completing training in rural clinics; and create a marketing program to connect graduates to primary care employment in rural and underserved areas.

John Roll (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Arnold Gold Foundation
“2017 White Coat Ceremony”
This award funds the white coat ceremony for the inaugural class of medical students in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. The white coat ceremony, which signifies the students’ induction into the medical profession, will be held on August 18, 2017.

John Roll (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
Paul Lauzier Charitable Foundation
“OSCE Next Generation Medical Training Equipment”
This grant provides funds for the purchase of medical training equipment to support objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) for medical students in the Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine. OSCE is a modern type of examination designed to test clinical skill performance and competence in skills such as communication and clinical examination. OSCEs are conducted in in medical exam rooms, where students are assessed on a one-on-one basis with an examiner and a simulated patient. This funding will pay for medical equipment and recording and observation technology for eight OSCE spaces and a central observation room.

Nawsheen Shoaib (PI); Scott Van Horn – College of Pharmacy
American Foundation for Pharmaceutical Education
“AFPE – Gateway to Research Scholarships”
This award funds a Gateway to Research Scholarship for PharmD student Nawsheen Shoaib to participate in a research project under the mentorship of Scott Van Horn, an adjunct clinical instructor at the WSU College of Pharmacy and a pharmacy supervisor at North Star Lodge cancer center in Yakima. The goal of Shoaib’s project is to evaluate and enhance the efficacy of pharmacist services provided in an oral oncolytic (chemotherapy) program as part of the oncology care model (OCM). The OCM is an approach adopted by the US Department of Health and Human Services that aims to achieve better health care and smarter spending for individuals with cancer who receive chemotherapy. As part of the OCM, North Star Lodge has a pharmacist-driven oral oncolytic program that involves initial assessment, periodic follow-ups, compliance checks, financial assistance, and refill reviews on oral oncolytics prescribed by medical oncologists.

 

AWARDS FOR ONGOING WORK

(Renewal, continued, and supplemental funding for projects awarded previously)

Salah-Uddin Ahmed (PI) – College of Pharmacy
National Institutes of Health; National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases
“Novel targeted therapeutics for regulating synovial hyperplasia in RA”
This award represents continued funding for a study focused on unraveling the molecular mechanisms involved in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a chronic inflammatory disease in which the body’s immune system attacks normal joint tissues. In particular, the study will look at synovial hyperplasia—an increase in cells inside the inner lining of the joints (synovium) observed in RA patients—as well as RA fibroblast‐like synoviocytes (RA‐FLS), cells found in the synovium that resist normal, programmed cell death. This study will test the hypothesis that ursolic acid—a substance found in the peels of apples and other fruits—can help increase the expression of the protein Noxa and that this this will reduce synovial hyperplasia and make RA‐FLS more sensitive to programmed cell death.

Salah-Uddin Ahmed (PI); Solomon Agere – College of Pharmacy
National Institutes of Health; National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal, and Skin Diseases
“RANTES/CCL5 mediated tissue remodeling in RA”
This is a funding increase for a project aimed at developing safer, more cost-effective new therapies for rheumatoid arthritis. As part of this project, Ahmed will look at a protein known as RANTES/CCL5 (Regulated on activation, Normal T expressed and secreted chemokine ligand 5), which plays a role in progressive cartilage and bone erosion. He will determine the molecular mechanism by which this happens and look for substances/natural products that can inhibit this process and prevent the progression of rheumatoid arthritis.

Lori Bailey (PI) – College of Nursing
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions
“Washington State University Nurse Faculty Loan Program 2017”
This is renewal funding for a federal loan program that helps the WSU College of Nursing prepare graduate nurses for careers as nurse educators. The funds support the WSU College of Nursing’s Nurse Faculty Loan Program, which helps meet the financial needs of graduate nurse educator students for tuition, fees, and books.

Dedra Buchwald (PI) – Community Health
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health
“A Primary Prevention Trial to Strengthen Child Attachment in a Native Community”
These are renewal subaward funds for a project to test the Promoting First Relationships (PFR) program in American Indian (AI) children at a reservation in northeastern Montana. The research team will test the effectiveness of the program in improving the caregiver’s sensitivity to the child. They will also examine child attachment security to the caregiver and the child’s social and emotional functioning. The goal is to create a culturally adapted intervention to promote sensitive caregiving and child attachment security in American Indian populations, minimizing the impact of stressors on children living on the reservation, as well as fostering resilience and improving their risk outlook.

Doreen Hauser-Lindstrom (PI); Christine Ciancetta – Extension Youth & Families
Washington State Department of Health
“SNAP Ed FY17 – Region 5, Mason County Older Youth Project”
This is supplemental funding for a project that provides nutrition education and obesity prevention services to individuals and families eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) assistance in Mason County, Washington State.

Kimberly Honn (PI); Hans Van Dongen – Elson S Floyd College of Medicine
Virginia Tech University/U.S. Department of Transportation – Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
“Flexible Sleeper Berth Pilot Program”
This is supplemental funding for a four-year field study—the Flexible Sleeper Berth Program—to determine whether allowing commercial truck drivers to split their sleep period can improve rest and alertness. Conducted in collaboration with the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), the study will include up to 240 commercial truck drivers, who will be allowed to split their sleeper berth time during the study. Each of the drivers will be followed for up to 90 days, and data related to their sleep and performance will be collected. This supplement provides funds for additional work in the areas of data collection and storage.

James Krueger (PI); Ping Taishi – College of Veterinary Medicine
National Institutes of Health
“Interleukin-1: A promoter of slow wave sleep”
This is the second year of funding for a five-year NIH R01 grant. Its purpose is to characterize interleukin-1β’s (IL1) role in sleep regulation and brain plasticity and repair processes. IL1 sleep signaling mechanisms—including the role of the neuron-specific IL1 receptor accessory protein (AcPb) in physiological sleep—will be described.

Philip Lazarus (PI); Ana Vergara – College of Pharmacy
National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
“The UGT2A and 3A metabolizing enzymes and tobacco‐related cancer risk”
This is continued funding for a research study to determine whether two enzymes known as UDP‐glycosyltransferase (UGT) 2A and 3A could be used to predict tobacco users’ level of risk for lung, head, and neck cancers. UGT enzymes help detoxify many carcinogens abundant in tobacco and/or tobacco smoke. This study will help scientists better understand its role in the development of tobacco‐related cancers and help them identify subjects for targeted prevention strategies.

Lonnie Nelson (PI); Dedra Buchwald – College of Nursing/Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
National Institutes of Health
“Innovative Multigenerational Household Intervention to Reduce Stroke and CVD Risk”
This is continued funding for a study to test the effectiveness of the “Family Intervention in the Spirit of Motivational Interviewing” (FITSMI) to reduce the risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease in American Indians. American Indians experience much higher prevalence and incidence of stroke than the general U.S. population. The FITSMI intervention was developed in response to results from the Strong Heart Study to encourage lifestyle changes that transform the home environment and reduce stroke risk for all residents. The clinical trial will recruit 360 households where Strong Heart Family Study members aged 45 and older reside. Half will receive the FITSMI intervention, which uses a talking circle format in which facilitators guide participants to identify goals for change and create a tailored plan for sustainable implementation; the other half will be assigned to a control condition that receives educational brochures.

Lonnie Nelson (PI); Emma Elliott-Groves; Dedra Buchwald; Clemma Muller – College of Nursing/Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Community Health
University of New Mexico/National Institutes of Health
“Rhythm and Timing Exercises for Cerebrovascular Disease in American Indians”
This is a funding increase for a subaward of a study to determine whether culturally adapted interactive metronome therapy can improve cognitive function among older American Indians with cerebrovascular disease. Interactive metronome is a form of behavioral therapy that attempts to improve cognitive functioning through mass-practice of simple, repetitive millisecond timing motor tasks—such as clapping hands or tapping feet—in time with a set beat. Through visual and auditory feedback, interactive metronome addresses processing speed, attention, and immediate and delayed memory, all of which can be affected by cerebrovascular disease.

Mary Paine (PI); John White; Matt Layton – College of Pharmacy/Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health
“Natural Product‐Drug Interaction Research: The Roadmap to Best Practices”
This is additional funding for WSU’s role in the founding of a multidisciplinary Center of Excellence on Natural Product‐Drug Interactions Research, in collaboration with the University of Washington and University of North Carolina at Greensboro. It includes continued funding for the center, as well as supplemental funding for a study of the interaction between green tea and the drug Raloxifene (for a more detailed description of this study, see project description of grant awarded to Hardy and Paine in New & Transfer Awards section above). The goal of the new center is to create a roadmap for best research practices on how to study potential unwanted interactions between natural products and conventional medications. The team will work with the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) officials to identify a priority list of natural products that could affect the efficacy and safety of conventional medications by altering drug distribution and elimination in the body; identify hurdles to studying these interactions; propose approaches to overcoming these challenges; develop a Web portal that will allow other researchers access to data for further analysis; and communicate health implications of findings to the public.

Jonathan Potter (PI) – Spokane Academic Library
University of Washington/National Institutes of Health
“Health Professions Outreach in Eastern Washington”
This grant provides continued funds for the WSU Spokane Academic Library to partner with the Regional Medical Library. The goal of the partnership is to further the goals of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine to advance the progress of medicine and improve public health. The partnership helps to establish the library as an outreach library in Washington for the Pacific Northwest Region of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, providing improved access to health and biomedical information in Washington that helps strengthen health care and advance the health, safety, and well-being of the American people.

Ka’imi Sinclair (PI) – College of Nursing/Community Health
University of Colorado Denver/National Institutes of Health
“Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Diabetes Translation Research (CDTR) – Research”
This is additional funding for a subaward to establish a Pacific Northwest satellite center of the Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Diabetes Translation Research, which is based at the University of Colorado Denver. The goal of the main center is to improve the diabetes-related health of American Indian and Alaska Native people by extending prevention and management research of proven efficacy to both clinical and community settings in American Indian/Alaska Native communities. The Pacific Northwest satellite center will engage local tribes in activities aimed at increasing awareness related to diabetes translational research among American Indians and Alaska Natives; organize and sponsor annual regional conferences about diabetes translational research among American Indian and Alaska Native populations; and develop a regional plan for disseminating the work and research findings of the center.

Denise Smart (PI); Lois James; Tamara Odom-Maryon – College of Nursing
TriService Nursing Research Program
“Effects of Sleep Deficiency on National Guard Personnel Responding to Disasters”
This is supplemental funding for a study to examine the prevalence and consequences of sleep deprivation and fatigue in National Guard medical personnel responding to a major disaster. The long-term goal for the project is to help protect the health of service members, civilian disaster response partners, and disaster victims and improve mission capability by reducing fatigue-induced errors by National Guard service members. The supplement adds funding to study personnel from an Air National Guard medical response team based at Fairchild Airforce Base in Washington State. The research team have previously collected data from Texas-based medical response teams during two weeklong disaster training exercises.

Jingru Sun (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine
National Institutes of Health
“Neural Regulation of Innate Immunity to Pathogen Infection in C. elegans”
This is continued funding for a project aimed at better understanding how the nervous system and the immune system interact. Recent studies indicate that the nervous system plays a critical role in the regulation of immune responses, but the precise mechanisms remain unclear.  In previous studies that have used the nematode (roundworm) Caenorhabditis elegans, the researcher has found a gene known as OCTR-1 that functions in two sensory neurons, ASH and ASI, to suppress innate immunity by inhibiting immune signaling pathways. This new study will attempt to uncover molecules and cells involved in the activation and mediation of the signaling process between OCTR-1 and the ASH and ASI neurons. This research may contribute to the future development of more effective treatments for innate immune disorders, such as chronic inflammatory diseases and autoimmune diseases.

Hans Van Dongen (PI) – Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine/Sleep and Performance Research Center
FEDEX
“SERVICE ORDER #2: FedEx FRM Scientific Advice”
This award provides two years of continued funding for a contract for statistical analyses and scientific advice on fatigue risk management (FRM) for FedEx pilots flying cargo planes between airport hubs at night. Specifically, this service order involves the further development of WSU’s mathematical model for the prediction of fatigue for use in 24-hour across-the-world cargo flight operations.

Zhenjia Wang (PI) – College of Pharmacy
National Institutes of Health
“Neutrophil-mediated Drug Delivery”
This award provides continued funds for a five-year project to study how neutrophils—the most abundant type of white blood cells in the bloodstream—could be used as a vehicle for delivering therapeutic nanoparticles to specific parts of the body. This work may help design new drugs to treat inflammatory disorders underlying acute and chronic diseases, including cancer. Specifically, the study will look at the efficacy of using neutrophil-mediated nanoparticle transport to treat acute lung injury, a devastating disease that cannot currently be treated with drugs.